One of the primary factors that contributes to the value of a computer is its ability to perform a wide range of useful, often unrelated functions. Each of these functions utilizes some type of computer information. Over time, modifications are typically made to the various types of computer information and updated versions of the information are made available by a provider company. Many types of computer information need frequent upgrades to maintain the most recent version on a user's system. Whether it be a computer program, such as an executable program or an application, or an informational file, such as a database or help file, the need to upgrade the information is crucial to keeping a computer system current, and thereby maintain the overall value of the computer system.
Traditionally such information has been transferred in the form of upgrade computer disks or CD-ROMs. Three main disadvantages in transferring upgrade information using disks or CD-ROMs are speed, expense, and convenience. Because these types of upgrades are slow to reach the user and expensive for a company to send, many computer systems may not have the most up-to-date computer information on the user's computer system. Upgrading in this manner is also inconvenient for a user because the user often must determine which version of the software is on the user's system and whether or not the upgrade is necessary.
In network environments, it is possible to send an electronic mail message to all users on the network to inform them that an upgrade is available. In this case, however, the individual users are required to download and install the upgrade themselves, when and if the upgrade is desired. For those users who are not familiar with the procedures necessary to retrieve and/or install the upgrade, the installation may end up being faulty, inadequate, or delinquent. In such situations, support from a network administrator or the like may be required. Consequently, uniform and timely upgrades to any large number of users can be difficult or impossible to achieve. In such a network environment, the problems of cost and convenience still persist.
Even where automated upgrade mechanisms have been made available in the past, they were limited to network-based independent programs that attempted to affect changes to software modules that were identified by a network administrator, based on a set of rules. To be effective, these approaches required significant maintenance of the rule set by the administrator, adding complexity and overhead to the process. In addition, since these operations were external to the software being updated, they required interruption of the operation of the software before the updating could take place. The user often had no control over when an update occurred. Furthermore, since they exerted external control, security issues were raised. For example, an active operation that has access to a large number of computers, such as an external updating program, provides a path by which a virus or a hacker can invade the computer system.
With the advent of the Internet, the problem of speed has been reduced by providing upgrades, including large ones, within a relatively short time period as compared to the time required to mail an upgrade. However, downloading upgrade information over the Internet presents other problems. For example, it may not be convenient for a user to search for upgrades online and use a significant portion of available bandwidth to download such information. Additionally, unfamiliarity with the procedures necessary to retrieve and/or install upgrades over the Internet may still exist.
To allow users to determine if the user's computer has the latest version of a particular product, many programs have implemented the Simple Internet Version Checking (SIVC) protocol. However, these programs offer little help for users in determining how and where to obtain such upgrades and, for inexperienced users, installation may still be a problem. These programs also have a disadvantage in that they rely on a server to receive a version report and then must process the version report to determine if an update is available. Problems with a server's version information may cause faulty availability information in the availability report.
With many different forms of computer information residing on a user's computer, it becomes increasingly difficult to monitor upgrade information for all such computer information. In addition to the many different forms of computer information present on a user's computer, it is common to have certain types of information which need to be updated frequently. One such type of information that may require frequent updates is a help file. The help files on a computer may contain information that relates to every program on the computer. As a result, with any changes to application programs or operating system, the corresponding help files must be updated to reflect changes in the help suggestions relating to any changed applications. Also, various recommendations in the help files may be modified over time, requiring the help files to be upgraded to reflect such modifications. All of this updating can become burdensome for a user to monitor, making it difficult for the user to maintain a computer system's information current.
Accordingly, it is desirable to create a system that will automatically monitor and upgrade information and alert the user to the presence of any upgrades available for computer information on the user's computer. It is also desirable to allow the user to determine which of the available upgrades will be downloaded to the user's computer and installed.